Through a press release from Metathe company announced that from yesterday on Facebook e Instagram is obscuring content that is sensitive to older users under 18 years of age.
The company that owns the two social networks has begun removing content from feed e stories considered potentially harmful to adolescents. A group of experts in psychology and mental health will determine which content will be cut.
Among the contents considered by Meta as harmful are those relating to food disorders, self-harm, suicide, restricted goods e nude scenes. The block, apparently, will also affect sharing between friends.
In the same post on the official Meta blog, the company then clarified how, in the coming weeks, it will also implement a new series of limitations for anyone who searches with sensitive terms that “They break intrinsically” the rules of the platforms. Also in this case, the company has hinted that terms related to self-harm or suicide will be involved in the blackout.
Sensitive content for teenagers? Drastic decision by Meta: here’s why
Regarding this initiative, the website of Arstechnica interviewed a Meta spokesperson. According to him, the company purposely did not reveal the list of censored terms, to prevent users from looking for ways to circumvent these restrictions.
In addition to these actions, Meta is sending a series of new notifications to encourage teens to update theirs privacy settings to improve their experience when using Facebook and Instagram. In this sense, there is talk of limitations on tags, mentions and sharing of the contents they publish, effectively making acts of cyberbullying and similar.
The measures adopted were more than predictable given that, in 2023 alone, 41 American states sued the aforementioned two platforms for problems related to younger users. The Attorney General of Massachusetts, Andrea Joy Campbellwent so far as to claim that Meta has “Deliberately exploited the vulnerabilities of young users for profit“.
Although Meta has always claimed the opposite, declaring how it is working productively with companies to provide an ideal environment for teenagers, this latest initiative confirms a certain pressure on society.